Calingasta to Iglesia

An alternative and more direct route from Calingasta to Iglesia than the main, paved RN149. The road isn’t especially scenic and on some sections the surface is not particularly good. We didn’t see anywhere to buy supplies in Villa Nueva, so stock up beforehand in Calingasta (or Iglesia if cycling this in reverse). Between Villa Nueva and Iglesia the only place we saw to obtain water was at the police station at Tacota.

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Details

Distance – 119kms

Leave Calingasta (1,370m) heading north on RP412 (tarmac).
After 32kms, just before Villa Nueva (1,570m), the road turns to ripio.
Go through the village and climb, sometimes reasonably steeply, for 26kms to junction with RP425 (2,220m). Continue straight on and climb more gently for 24kms to a high point (2,660m) 2kms before Tocota police station.
To this point the surface is ok but not great. Descend 25kms on a bad surface, then there are 10kms of reasonably flat road to meet the paved RN149 just before Iglesia.

Time taken – 2 days

3 hours: Calingasta to Villa Nueva.
8 hours: Villa Nueva to Iglesia.

Traffic

Some traffic to Villa Nueva. 1 car in 1 ½ days from Villa Nueva to main road near Iglesia.

2 Responses to “Calingasta to Iglesia”

We did this route heading South in October 2013 and the descent from Tacota was awful. Strong, grit ladden headwind with very loose surface such that we had to often walk, even going downhill. Thankfully we had drawn water at the top as we ran out of daylight on the way down. “Lid is off the cage on” http://www.crazyguyonabike.com

Did this in november 2017 from Iglesia to Calingasta. Took us all day to reach the police post at Tocota. We were allowed to camp there and have a hot shower. Road was awful with loose gravel and giant rocks. The downhill to Villa Nueva is slightly better. Some reasonably good sections but also substantial stretches with soft deep gravel, we had to walk many many times. The good news is that locals told us that this road is scheduled to get pavement in about 3 years from end 2017.